What made George Seifert successful

George Seifert also deserves induction into the other Hall of Fame (Russell Yip).

Congratulations to former head coach George Seifert for his much deserved induction into the 49ers’ Hall of Fame. Understandably over shadowed by Pro Football Hall of Famer Bill Walsh, Seifert never got the credit he deserved.

Nevertheless, Seifert proved that while the 49ers success had much to do with Walsh, they didn’t need him to win championships. In fact, in some ways, Seifert was the anti-Walsh with how he handled players. Walsh wasn’t always revered by his team, with players always wary that he would get rid of them soon after their primes. Walsh also made it subtly clear that the team’s success was due to his innovative system of offense, which, of course, is true.

Nevertheless, shortly after Seifert was hired in 1989 to replace Walsh, he told players at one of his first team meetings that the 49ers’ success was not about coaching. It was about them. They were the ones that won the Super Bowl titles in 1981, ’84, and ’88. They were the ones that carried the team to the playoffs annually.

The philosophy worked. In his first season, the 49ers compiled a 14-2 record and plowed through the playoffs beating their opponents by a combined score of 92-18. Then they flattened the Broncos, 55-10 in the Super Bowl.

Seifert fueled the team’s success with his defensive schemes and his ability to put his players first and himself last. On the defensive side, Seifert was part of the NFL trend that established situation substitution. It prompted former linebacker Keena Turner to say that what Seifert was doing defensively approached what Walsh did on the offensive side.

And what Seifert said in ’89, he lived by. He was always searching for the moment during a season when the players took over the team. Rather infamously, it happened in the last 49ers’ Super Bowl-winning season, when Seifert benched quarterback Steve Young in the midst of a 40-8 thrashing by the Eagles. After his benching, Young stood behind Seifert and hurled verbal invectives at him as the 49ers continued to be trounced on the field.

Seifert, while he didn’t enjoy it at the time, said it was the moment that that 1994 Super Bowl team came together.
Hopefully, this won’t be the last Hall of Fame Seifert enters.